Breweries, large and small, are growing across Pennsylvania

Ed Stoudt, owner of Stoudts Brewery, stands at the taps in the Black Angus Restaurant, which is part of Stoudts Brewery. (LEBANON DAILY NEWS -- JEREMY LONG)

Pennsylvania has a rich tradition in beer brewing. Throughout its history, hundreds of breweries have called the Keystone State home.

At one point, nearly every community across the state had its own brewery.

"Years ago, it was Schmidt's of Philadelphia, Iron City in Pittsburgh," said Dick Yuengling Jr., president and owner of D.G. Yuengling and Son in Pottsville. "It was all local breweries. There were three breweries in the Allentown area. Reading had the old Reading Brewery and Sunshine."

Lebanon County was no exception - between 1759 and 1959, at least 33 breweries of different sizes operated in the county.

In the 20th century, however, Prohibition and the rise of giant brewing companies like Anheuser-Busch, Miller and Coors conspired to drive many Pennsylvania brewers out of business.

By 1994, there were just a dozen breweries scattered across the state.

Things have begun to turn around recently, and microbreweries, craft-beer breweries and brewpubs have been popping up all over the state during the past 20 years. There are currently 116 breweries and brewpubs of various sizes in Pennsylvania, according to the state Liquor Control Board.

"Pennsylvania has a very long history and tradition in brewing," said Chris Trogner, co-founder of Troegs beer in Hershey. "It only continues to improve and improve as more craft breweries come along and offer a larger variety of beers. Pennsylvania is definitely a great brewing state, and it just continues to get better and better."

Unfortunately for local residents, there are currently no breweries in Lebanon County.

Advertisement

The last local brewery, Lebanon Valley Brewing Co., ceased operating in 1959, and beer has not been produced commercially in the county since then.

That could change in the near future with Snitz Creek Brewery's plan to open a brewpub in downtown Lebanon later this year.

If you can't wait that long, here are a few breweries that are within easy driving distance of Lebanon County:

D.G. Yuengling & Sons

We'll start with America's oldest brewery, Yuengling, maker of the beer simply referred to as Lager.

To visit the Yuengling brewery is to take a step back in time. The brewery, located on a side street a couple blocks off Route 61 in Pottsville, Schuylkill County, was built in 1831. Other than new brewing and bottling equipment, it does not appear much has changed.

Visitors to the brewery can take a guided tour that includes the bottling and canning line and underground caves that were used to keep the beer cold in the days before refrigerators. You might also see president and owner, Dick Yuengling Jr., the fifth-generation Yuengling to own the company.

The tour ends in the brewery's rathskellar, where tour-takers are offered two free samples of beer.

Visitors to Victory Brewing Co. in Downingtown can sample more than 20 different beers in samplers such as this one. (LEBANON DAILY NEWS -- JEREMY LONG)

If you want more than those two beers, you'll have to go elsewhere - the brewery does not sell any beer, whether by the glass or in cans, bottles or kegs.

Like many other Pennsylvania breweries, Yuengling struggled in the mid-20th century and nearly went out of business itself.

"I remember the girls in the office, they worked for my grandfather, and they would say, 'You better find something else to do because we're barely getting by here,'" said Dick Yuengling, who started working at the brewery in 1958, when he was 15.

Fermenting tanks are lined up in the brewpub at Swashbuckler Brewing Co. on the grounds of the Mount Hope Estate and Winery, just south of Lebanon County. (LEBANON DAILY NEWS -- JEREMY LONG)

Things turned around in 1988 when Yuengling introduced its Amber Lager. Today, the company produces about 2.5 million barrels of beer a year. Because Anheuser-Busch, Miller and Coors are owned by foreign companies, Yuengling has the distinction of being the largest American-owned brewer.

While Lebanon County might not presently have a brewery to call its own, an award-winning craft-beer brewery is close by.

Troegs was founded by brothers John and Chris Trogner in Harrisburg in 1996, and moved to Hersheypark Drive, about a mile west of the Lebanon County line, in October 2011.

Several varieties of Troegs beer are available in the sampling room of the Hershey facility. (LEBANON DAILY NEWS -- JEREMY LONG)

Last year, three of its beers - DreamWeaver Wheat, HopBack Amber Ale and Sunshine Pils - won gold medals at the Great American Beer Fest in Denver, and the brewery was named mid-sized brewery of the year.

Chris Trogner said Troegs doesn't have a strategic plan when developing new beers.

"We start with what we enjoy," he said. "We're a craft-beer brewery so we like the experimentation of trying new ingredients and new techniques."

Visitors to the Troegs brewery will find a large tasting room with a long bar and many tables where you can sample all of Troegs' year-round beers, as well as seasonal and scratch beers. There is also a snackbar run by an award-winning chef and a general store where you can buy beer to go as well as merchandise.

Trogner said the brewery is running at capacity, which is about 45,000 barrels a year. Two new bottling lines and new fermentation tanks are on the way to help increase capacity, he said.

"The brewery is firing on all cylinders," he said. "Our fermentation capacity is maxed out, so that's why we have the new tanks coming in so we can increase capacity for next year."

Founded in 1987 by Ed and Carol Stoudt, Stoudts was Pennsylvania's first microbrewery. It is located just east of Lebanon County in Adamstown, Lancaster County.

Although it is the state's oldest microbrewery, Stoudts is definitely not one of its biggest. If running at full capacity, Stoudts could produce between 15,000 and 16,000 barrels a year. In 2012, the brewery put out about 12,000 barrels.

"Why get big?" said Ed Stoudt. "Big didn't work so good for the dinosaurs. Bigger is not always better."

Stoudts makes seven year-round beers, including four "flagship beers": American Pale Ale, Gold Lager, Scarlet Lady Ale and Pilsener. The brewery also produces four seasonal beers and a variety of small-batch beers called Brewers Reserves.

Stoudts' beers are well-renowned and have won more than 20 medals at the Great American Beer Festival.

Ed Stoudt offers free tours of the brewery on Saturdays and Sundays. In addition to the brewery, those visiting Stoudts will find a full-service restaurant and pub where you can sample many of Stoudts' beers, a gourmet bread and cheese shop, and an antique market.

About 70 percent of Stoudts' sales are in Pennsylvania, so if you don't live nearby, you're pretty much out of luck.

"We got in the beer business because I wanted a good German beer, so that's what we started with, all German beers," Stoudt said. "You don't have to drink my beer, there's a lot of good beers out there. But I'm having a great time. I'm a happy guy, and the brewery's showing a profit."

If you've been to the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire recently, you're probably familiar with Swashbuckler's beers. If you haven't been there, there's a chance you never heard of Swashbuckler.

Located at Mount Hope Estate, home of the popular faire, just south of Lebanon County, Swashbuckler has been brewing beer since 2000 for faire visitors.

When the brewery first opened, it was capable of producing about 100 barrels a year and brewed strictly for the faire. The brewery was expanded three times during the next 10 years and, by 2010, it was brewing about 1,500 barrels a year. About half of that was sold during the Renaissance Faire.

In 2012, the brewery was moved outside the faire's fence to another building on the grounds of Mount Hope and expanded once again. It can now produce about 5,200 barrels a year.

"We started out with a 10-barrel system in 2000 to cover the grounds, and for many years it was sufficient," said Christian Heim, one of the brewmasters at Swashbuckler. "We were able to make enough beer, and then for the last two years we kept running out of beer."

The problem with Swashbuckler's beers is availability. The brewery does not offer tours and, unless you are attending the Renaissance Faire or another event at Mount Hope, figuring out exactly when you can get your hands on a Swashbuckler beer can be difficult.

"Now, it's like a combination lock," Heim said. "If all the stars are aligned, can I get a beer at Swashbuckler?"

That could change later this year. Plans are being discussed to open a brewpub on the grounds of Mount Hope that would be open year-round, Heim said.

Victory is a little farther drive than any of the other breweries on this list - it'll take you an hour-plus to get there if you take the turnpike - but it's worth the trip.

Founded by childhood friends Ron Barchet and Bill Covaleski in 1996 in a former Pepperidge Farm bakery in Downingtown, Chester County, the company started out modestly, producing about 1,700 barrels of beer a year. Since then, Victory has steadily grown. It now brews nearly 100,000 barrels annually, and its beers are distributed in 28 states.

The company makes 12 year-round beers and nine seasonal beers. If you visit the brewpub at the brewery, you might also find special beers that are only available there.

Hop Devil, an IPA; Golden Monkey, a Belgian-style golden ale; and Prima Pils, a traditional German pilsner, are the company's top sellers, accounting for more than half of its sales. Its other beers include lagers, stouts, pale ales and weissbiers.

"We're taking a lot of traditional ingredients, traditional processes and traditional styles of beer, and then giving them a little twist," said Adam Bartles, Victory's director of brewery operations.

The brewery does not offer tours of the brewing area, but there is a full-service restaurant that serves up tasty food and a long bar where you can sample nearly all of Victory's beers. There is also a store where you can purchase kegs, cases and six-packs of beer to go, as well as merchandise such as T-shirts, hats and pint glasses.

Victory is poised to open up a second brewery in Chester County this summer that will more than quadruple its production, likely propelling Victory into a national brand. The new brewery will be located about 12 miles west of Downingtown in Parkesburg, and it will have a capacity of about 600,000 barrels a year.